National Adoption Day or Gotcha Day
I was informed this week that on or about September 19 was National Adoption Day. I attempted to verify that date but at this writing was unable to do so. I do however, know all about "Gotcha Day". This is the term used by many in the adoption community as the name of the day the parents of an adopted child either take home their new child, or finalize the adoption. It is used interchangeably or at the family's whim in symbolizing for them the day they all became a family. It is sort of like an "unbirthday" a day not your birthday that you celebrate like it is your birthday. Unbirthdays are especially useful for Christmas babies, who feel they get shortchanged by getting presents for the holiday and having people call it also a birthday gift.
When we "got" my daughter we started to celebrate "gotcha day" until it seemed like "gotcha day" was every day! I wanted to just keep celebrating our new family and we eventually settled on her birthday for our big celebrations.
Recently I saw some adoption magazines making reference to "gotcha day" and saying that the term was no longer PC and now carried with it a negative connotation of sorts. I am still trying to rationalize what the negative connotation could be but fail to come up with anything. Any celebration that makes a family feel good should be embraced. Afterall isn't that why we have celebrations throughout the year? My children are convinced that we are multi cultural because we celebrate just about every holiday on the calendar and attempt to learn about the history and heritage of the particular event. We have had Passover sedars in my home; we never fail to celebrate Cinco de Mayo; St. Patricks Day always involves corned beef and recently one of my children asked that we investigate Kwanza for a possible inclusion into our celebratory calendar.
So whether you were born this week as was my latest client, or you are celebrating a "gotcha day" event, as is the same client; Happy, Happy, Enjoy!
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